WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, and Grades for July 2, 2018

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Matt Hardy vs. Curtis Axel (w/ Bo Dallas)

Result: Curtis Axel defeated Matt Hardy via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Look, if you would have told me that 2018 would feature a Curtis Axel undefeated streak on WWE Raw, I’d have told you to seek professional help. Sure, the guy is a former Intercontinental Champion, but that was during the time where, like, everyone was Intercontinental Champion at some point.

Regardless, here we are, and I see in my week off last week WWE has stuck with the B-Team cosplay, huh? Decent pipes on Bo Dallas, though, so it’s not all bad. Maybe someone should tell these guys what happens to associates of The Miz who dress up as other people all the time.

With Bray Wyatt out this week due to injuries sustained in a car accident over the weekend, Matt Hardy goes it alone against one half of the B-Team. In terms of show opening matches, it’s not really super exciting. There’s nothing especially wrong with it, but there’s nothing especially right with it, either.

Look at it this way — did anything about the match surprise you? We’re in the lead-up to a pay per view tag team title match. How has WWE built to those for the past hundred years? By having a series of singles matches between the participants. And the champions tend to lose more often than not, because reasons.

So here, we get Axel picking up the win via Dallas distraction, even though Hardy is like a billion-time tag team champ and should know all about distraction finishes. But the Axe Man decided to floss for his celebration, and Extreme Rules is roughly a fortnight away, so sure, whatever.